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Wednesday, May 09, 2007

But with end of the year teacher gifts coming up soon I thought I would show this idea that I have done three years in a row. Original post may 2006

I am also hoping to gets some comments on some ideas others have done.

So here are the instructions on the money book.

the last week of school I send out a secret paper to all the kids to take home and fill out. It has a list of questions that they fill in the blank. Here are the list from this year.

Why Mrs. Thorp will make a great mom to Anna (her teacher is pregnant)

Where does Mrs. Thorp live?

What I love most about Mrs. ThorpMy favorite thing Mrs. Thorp taught me this year

What is Mrs. Thorp's favorite color?

What doe she love to eat for lunch?

Mrs. Thorp loves me because...

What I will miss most about being in Mrs. Thorp's class

What I hope to never forget about this year.

Then I compile these questions and answers and print them out on sheets of paper the size of dollar bills. I go to the bank and get 100 brand new bills. It will only work with brand new ones.Then I make a cover for the front and a piece of chip board for the back.I put a dollar then a slip of paper over and over.I use a compound glue (this is where I bought it in Tennessee, but you should be able to find this at Paper Mills in your town)I paint the glue at the top of each sheet, clamp down with clamps. In a few hours you have a pad of paper, that does not come apart.

The cover says,"100 things we love and will miss about Mrs. Thorp. From the class of 2006"The answers are priceless.

The younger the children the funnier the answers to the "where does she live" most say at the school or with her mother. This year one boy wrote" she lives in a kitchen with grapes and green wall paper on the wall"

One boy wrote, she loves me because I have red hair.

Gumball Jars

The other idea is if you have lots of teachers to give to, PE, Art, the bus driver, music teacher, office staff.

You can buy these gumballs at Sams club (if you don't have a membership, you should be able to ask for a one day) they are about $16.00 a box.Get some glass canning jars. I buy the printed lids now but in the past have spray painted the gold lids. I seem to find these often at Walmart, here is a place to order them onlineI think the gingham lids are awesome and less time consuming.Here is a sample of the label. I print these and then laminate them with my xyron machine. (amanda:) sorry I have never answered your question about this great machine)

37 comments:

You seriously know how to bounce back - posting good ideas again so soon after your weekend? I've seen this idea in your side bar, I think, and I've been trying so hard to track down the right glue. Thanks for more info on the glue - I'm ready to try and find it again.

Love the idea for the teacher's booklets - I am doing this with my daughter's preschool class this year! I hope it goes well! Living in a small town, I was forced to order my padding compound online - cheapest through amazon, but had to get red... not a big deal - I will design the cover to coordinate!The gumball idea is great too! Terrific idea!Thanks for sharing!Missy

Love the idea! Thanks for taking time to share and take photos!It seems I have so many teacher appreciation ideas, yet, unlike you, not photos. As far as creative money giving. Two I like are 1) making a money tree by folding the dollar bills like **bow ties and attaching them to a plant or small tree 2) Making a dollar bill dispenser by taping them all together and rolling them up and putting them into a decorated tissue box or wipe dispenser, etc and they can be pulled out one at a time.**money folding instructions can be found doing a search under "creative tipping" There are all sorts of shapes to fold money in.

Today, we made Candy-Gram Posters. I did take a photo. Will post. Candy Grams are an all time favorite of mine. I will put together a post on this soon.

shauna, i have heard about the tissue box idea, and am so glad you said that because i never knew how they did it. thanksthe money tree one is a great idea, but your idea of folding it different ways is brilliant. thanks for sharing.

What fun ideas! I'm going to have to use these. This is teacher appreciation week for both of my kids' schools and I posted Luci's homemade gift to her teacher on my blog. Her teacher seemed touched that the gift was made and that Luci put thought into it. We wrapped it with your ribbon too, which her teacher loves because her daughter recycles them into hair bows! She got a kick out of the pink camo ribbon you gave me!

Kristi, I wish my students did that for me. That would be great. I don't think any of them even knew it was teacher appreciation week. They won't care when they move on to next year, either. I guess it is different with middle schoolers.

laura,yes each dollar rips out but the little notes from the kids will stay in, kind of like a pad of paper if you wrote on the top but wanted to take the next one out. the dollars do not get damaged and are usuable.

Along with the "Money" tree or plant, another item to add or do alone, is to make a "bouquet" with miniature candy bars-the teacher's favorites. Place a styrofoam ball in a decorated clay pot, cover it with colored shredded crinkle paper, stick miniature candy bars on to the end of wooden skewers (plain or painted), place the candy bar "flowers in the pot or you can place them directly in to a live plant with the folded dollar bills. You can use ribbon, tissue, or whatever for accents. You have inspired me to start taking photos of every little project... the collection I could have after being a room mom for 25 years....

I'm a room-mom for my daughter's 1st grade class. We made your "money book" tonight!!! It is gorgeous!!! I found some really cute black ribbon that said "thank you" in white!!! I couldn't find the padding compound anywhere, and I live in Houston!!! Anyway, my sweet husband did some research for me and found that you can use simple Tacky Glue from Wal-mart!!! I did three thin coats and it held together $125 ones and all their answers!!! I did an example note pad for my daughter first and it did not rip the paper!!! What a great idea - thanks for sharing!!! I have a feeling you'll be bringing our teacher to tears tomorrow!!!

ok so on the money book are you stacking all of the papers together and then painting the glue across the top? And what does the book actually look like after all of the bills are removed? I love this idea and I am wanting to make one for my sons senior year for the band directors. I think they will all love it! I just want to make sure I am doing it correctly.

You may be able to take your money book to OfficeMax or Staples (or another office supply store), and have them do the padding glue for you. I was looking into another project that turns a ream of paper into 9 square notepads, and I went to OfficeDepot and asked them if they could cut the ream and make each one into a note pad using the padding glue, and she said they could do that. I think the charge to cut the paper and glue the side of each square is like $8, so to just glue one side of a money book should be even cheaper than that. I am sending my letters home for my money book today, and I will update if they will glue my book together at a local office supply store. Thanks for the amazing idea; my son's teacher is going to love, love, love it!!!

On the envelopes did you just put each kids name on the front and enclosed an extra envelope with your name so the questions would be returned to you? Also does anyone know what format used to print the questions/answers the same size as a dollar bill?

So glad I found this money book idea! We have a 5th grade teacher retiring that I had when she taught 3rd grade! She had my siblings and even my kids as she has my son now. Am going to do this for her. Thank you for the idea!

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awesome idea. I am definitely going for it this year. I just need to understand how the dollars come out without the entire pad not coming apart. For example in can NOT take out 1 post it pad from the middle without ruining the pad.

Ahh I get how the dollars hold now....not like a post it pad....http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mnnDrUaSW1E/UbDZQesO8kI/AAAAAAAADMc/_-0k7Hujt-E/s1600/DSC_1018.JPGPaint the glue to the top of the pad being held together by clamps!!!!:)

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